Pathan crowns Royals triumph

Yusuf Pathan starred with ball then bat for Rajasthan Royals © Getty Images

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Yusuf Pathan inspired Rajasthan Royals to a three-wicket defeat of Chennai Super Kings in a thrilling Indian Premier League final.

Pathan took three wickets to restrict Chennai, who lost the toss, to 163 for five, and then smashed 56 - including four sixes and three fours - off just 39 balls .

Needing eight runs off the final over, Shane Warne and Sohail Tanvir kept their cool to reach the target, with the latter grabbing the one run needed for victory off the final ball of the match.

Rajasthan made a shaky start as they chased down Chennai’s target, losing Niraj Patel in the fourth over for just two off 11 balls.

He played on to Manpreet Gony as he attempted pull, but fellow opener Swapnil Asnodkar (28) looked in better touch.

He seemed to have the measure of Makhaya Ntini, hitting the South African for consecutive fours, but could only slash Albie Morkel to Suresh Raina at backward point.

The Royals suffered a double blow as in the same over Kamran Akmal went for a suicidal single after driving to mid-on and was run out by Ntini’s direct hit.

Pathan proved he was just as capable with the bat as with the ball, although he was lucky to be dropped by Raina in the 11th over on 13.

Raina’s error proved costly as Pathan went on to smash Muttiah Muralitharan for successive sixes.

Shane Watson chipped in with a rapid 28 off 19 balls but succumbed when he came down the track to Muralitharan but missed and was bowled.

Needing 52 off the last five overs, Pathan launched Lakshmipathy Balaji for 12 off one over and then dished out the same treatment to Muralitharan, hoisting the spinner over midwicket to bring up his half-century.

But Mohammad Kaif then lobbed Muralitharan into the hands of Mahendra Singh Dhoni at cover and Ravindra Jadeja followed the next ball when he lamely pulled Morkel straight to Chamara Kapugedera at mid-on.

Rajasthan’s hopes were knocked when Pathan was run out by Raina’s superb direct hit, but Warne and Tanvir steered the Royals to victory.

Earlier, Chennai openers Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan and Parthiv Patel put on 39 before the former was dismissed in the sixth over.

He tried to pull Pathan over deep midwicket but mistimed it and was caught by Jadeja sprinting in from the boundary.

Patel looked a touch nervy from the off and survived two decent lbw appeals, but he hit five fours in a innings of 38 off 33 balls before being caught behind by Akmal off Pathan.

Morkel attempted to accelerate the run-rate and smashed two sixes before he became Pathan’s third victim. Akmal backpedalled to take the catch, despite colliding heavily with Kaif, running in from short fine-leg.

Aiming for a flurry of runs in the final few overs, Raina tried one shot too many and was caught at long-off by Jadeja off Watson, and Kapugedera did not last long before lofting Tanvir to Asnodkar at long-on.

Dhoni smashed 29 off 17 balls, including a huge six in the last over, and Subramaniam Badrinath made six off the final two balls of the innings, but Chennai’s total proved insufficient.